Stamford lawmakers defend Mill River Park purchase

By Elizabeth Kim, Staff Writer

Published 10:26 pm, Thursday, October 1, 2009

STAMFORD -- Responding to criticism from two Board of Finance members, several Stamford lawmakers are vigorously defending the city's plan to purchase a residential property that adjoins Mill River Park for $1.2 million.

The two-family house at 1 Whittaker Place is to be surrounded by developed parkland within a year. Coupled with a proposed $5 million purchase of a neighboring 2-acre lot on Washington Boulevard from the development firm Archstone, the deal is expected to add a significant amount of open space to Mill River Park.

City Rep. Harry Day, R-13, on Thursday spoke in strong support of the purchase, calling the property "indispensable to the success of Mill River Park" and the price "reasonable."

The property owner, Sanford Yoshikami, has been an unwilling seller who has been in negotiations with the city for years. The house was the former home of Junzo Nojima, a beloved city resident who in 1957 donated a grove of cherry trees to the city.

Day, a former real estate developer, submitted a letter Wednesday to the Board of Representatives' fiscal committee, of which he is a member. It voted 8-0 to approve the purchase.

The deal will next go to the full Board of Representatives, which is set to meet on Oct. 5.

Day and others have argued that the Whittaker purchase should be valued as a piece of a larger assemblage that includes the pending Archstone deal. Should the city only acquire the Archstone parcel, then the Whittaker property is likely to go up in value because it would be the last remaining piece the city needs, according to Day.

In his letter, Day also noted that in January 2008, developer Richard Kiley had a contract to buy 1 Whittaker Place for $1.25 million. The deal was later voided. But Robin Stein, the city's land use bureau chief, said he kept a copy of the document after Kiley approached the city with plans to develop the property.

Other property assemblages in Stamford have sold for similarly high values. Stamford Hospital in July purchased a two-family home on a similarly sized lot at 18 Merrell Ave. for $1 million, according to city records.

In November 2008, the Royal Bank of Scotland bought a three-family house at 107 Clinton for $2.3 million. The property was assessed by the city tax department at $527,000.

Tarzia and Kolenberg have contended that the Whittaker house is worth no more than $405,000, based on their own commissioned appraisals that they sent to the mayor and the Board of Representatives.

Finance board Democrats Tim Abbazia and John Louizos on Thursday blasted their findings, saying that the appraisers failed to take into account the property's unique location and its potential for development, known in real estate as the "highest and best use."

By law, a city must consider highest and best use in assessing the fair market value of a property, according to Rachel Goldberg, the city's attorney and an expert on land acquisitions.

As many as five units could be developed on the roughly quarter-acre lot at 1 Whittaker Place.

Kolenberg on Wednesday suggested that the city use eminent domain to take the property. In a letter to the mayor and Board of Representatives, Louizos, an attorney who specializes in eminent domain cases, said Thursday that "the rationale that the city will save money by doing it this way is misguided at best and ignorant at worst."

With an election on the horizon and three Board of Finance seats up for grabs, including those belonging to Abbazia and Louizos, the issue has sparked a political battle.

Kolenberg earlier this week accused Democrats of misspending and trying to push a plan through as the mayor finishes out his final months in office. On Thursday, Abbazia fought back.

"The acquisition of this property shows that the Democrats on the Board of Finance have a vision for Stamford and it's not a narrow-minded approach that our colleagues take," he said.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Kim can be reached at elizabeth.kim@scni.com or 203-964-2265.